Taking Liberties

We had tickets to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform Mahler's Sixth at Symphony Hall in March, and decided to make an overnight of it.

HotelTonight (hands-down my favorite travel app, by the way, feel free to use code MAGUIRRE39 to get $25 off your first booking!) showed us The Liberty, a renovated jail turned luxury boutique hotel, had rooms available, so we jumped on it after one glance at the incredible 90-foot-tall atrium, flooded with natural light.

Bonus: Award-winning restaurants, one of which had a freaking mozzarella bar! Sold.

It was all too easy to be charmed by the great swaths of exposed brick and ominous wrought iron chandeliers, complimentary champagne at check-in, and of course, LiLo's mugshot blown up into a glossy print at one of the hotel's bars, called - what else? - Alibi.

It is an incredibly beautiful building, listed on state and national Registers of Historic Places, but still.

Perhaps next time we'll pass on staying at an old jail closed due to overcrowding so severe it violated the constitutional rights of its prisoners, especially when it's been renamed The Liberty, for crying out loud. I'm going to go ahead and blame our lapse in judgment on old man winter, who had all but driven us (alright, just me) mad by the end of March.

"I wonder what it was like here for the last women imprisoned for suffrage in 1919..."

Snow completely covered the still-frozen Charles River when these were taken! I was clearly feeling early spring vibes with this sweet, softly pleated aqua dress from H&M. I loved the nubby texture and tea-length, and knew when I saw it that it'd be a killer "just throw it on and go" dress, especially in such a vivid shade. I paired it with a mint green moto topper from last summer and pops of gold, but it'd be awesome with an old Levi's jacket and chill loafers, too.

OH HAi. Welcome to the New FFAF!

So, things look really different 'round these parts, as I'm sure you've noticed. I've been quietly building the blog a new home since mid-March, and couldn't be more excited to debut it here after two very intense months. I'm so ready to unveil this new space, since it definitely feels like I've been stuck in an episode of HGTV's Fixer Upper, somewhere between obsessively changing out the last accent pillow or coffee table objet d'art and being ready for the big reveal with a shiny, pretty new home behind it.

FFAF needed more than a coat of fresh paint; it needed to be gutted and remade. After I discovered Emily Brickel's fashion illustrations, I knew exactly what direction the overhaul needed to take. Her sketches were the kind of inspiration I needed to kickstart the process, so we got to working on turning some of my most loved outfits into her signature handmade sketches.

The designs will change with the seasons - mostly because my mother instilled in me a deep obligation to truly rotate one's wardrobe in the spring and fall, despite growing up in California - which should be fun. Find out more in the new FAQ section!

It's possible that M has been more eager than I to launch the new site; she's been hounding me nonstop for days now,"Is it ready to ship yet?" "Now?""Time to ship it, Jonesey!"

WHAT'S NEW

I hope you like what you see, because I absolutely do. I'm introducing new sections that'll make it easy to see what's giving FFAF life in the realms of beauty and music, and I plan to open up an e-shop for vintage pieces and gently loved gems sometimes in the late summer.

There's a Welcome page for readers just now stumbling across FFAF, and the Work menu links you to my articles with Autostraddle and Qwear, with collabs and notable features to follow soon. The new A-List has a traditional blogroll and a working list of shops I like, as well as a new section for folks in search of QPOC resources and must-reads.

NAVIGATION

For navigation, you can head to Explore to easily peruse different categories, and you can now preview the latest posts at the bottom of each page, where Instagram and Twitter feeds give you the latest in FFAF social media, and it's easier than ever to sign up for the mailing list or follow FFAF on Bloglovin'.

Tags will soon be cleaned up to make hunting down things like animal prints, florals, vintage, updos, etc. so much easier, which I know is a really important feature for readers trying to hunt down inspiration without slogging through the whole blog.